Friday, May 16, 2008

For people who may not know how to comment on a blog, I hope this will help you. I read - and comment on - a number of blogs every day and I've compiled some instructions (with picture examples) below that may help you, I hope.

I've also included a brief (and probably inaccurate) description of the blogs to hopefully introduce you to some you may not be familiar with.

There are a number of different types of blog. Two of the more popular are Wordpress, Blogspot or Blogger (like this one) and they have different ways of accepting comments. I'll hopefully show you this below.

Writing a comment on a blog is no more difficult than sending an email. Honestly. It's three basic steps:

Congratulations Val on your 100th post, I must admit I have popped in a read a good number of your blogs but I have no idea how to post a response over there, so I'll tell you now how good you are at describing the stuff your at - I must admit I find it insightful to read your blogging. Keep up the good work.

I wonder if that's one of the reason that people don't post comments? That even though you might like what someone writes, you're not sure how to reply?

So maybe this guide will help. Let's start with what to look for:

Over on Damien Mulley's blog (Damien writes about Irish internet related news, topics as well as a host of other stuff and is generally regarded as top blogger) you'll see

And over on Alexia's Blog (she blogs about technology and other interesting ideas) you'll see

but, you can also click on the heading and then you'll see the comment form below the post (which is what an article on a blog is called). This tends to be the same for most blogs.

For example, you can see over on Grannymar's blog (cooking, jokes, adventures and toyboys) you can click on the heading or the comments link

and that's because bloggers like to get to know you, so to make sure you're not a machine (or worse, pretending to be someone you're not) they keep a comment in moderation. This is normal practise - your hard work hasn't disappeared!

There are some blogs made in Blogspot/Blogger (like this one) which is owned by Google. Rosie over at Spanish Exposition (the exploits of a twentysomething year old) has a very popular (and great to read) blog:

Finally, just on comments - as I said in this post, bloggers write to be read and love getting comments, so if you have an opinion, a thought or just like what you read, feel free to share.

Please try to remember just as you're one person in front of a monitor, so is the blogger and so they prefer constructive criticism, lively debate and gifts of fine wines than abuse. Well, okay, the fine wine thing is just me.

I hope this helped. If it did, please let me know and share your new found expertise with your friends. Happy commenting!

(Fellow bloggers, I hope it's okay I used (and slightly edited in cases) your work. Feel free to take the images if you think they'd help on your blog. Not everyone's an expert.)

100 comments:

What a brilliant post Darragh! You should do a series! :) I did a sort of blogging for dummies (http://www.craftsupplies.ie/shop/chat/viewtopic.php?t=11401&highlight=blogging+101) over on one of the craft forums and I thought it was too simple for them, but the amount of emails I got asking questions just like what you addressed was unbelievable. As young people today we have grown up with computers, but it's easy to forget that even people just a few years older have not! Really good post! :)

Excellent post, its amazing that its necessary really but it is. I think Iarfhlaith's point about bigger buttons attracting more comments is very true. If I knew how to do it I'd definitely stick up a massive one with "PLEASE FUCKING CLICK ME AND SPILL YOUR GUTS ABOUT WHATEVER YOU WANT" on it. I'm subtle that way.

Pity I missed you on Saturday, but love this post, if comments dont start rolling in on irish blogs now, I just wont get it.

I know with photoblogs we have an extra problem people may know where the comment button is but just dont know what to write, in fear they may say something silly "I love the depth of field in this image, whatever that is" or more often how many time can they say "lovely shot", if I get 10 comments on an image I am on top of the moon unfortunately it does not happen to much, photobloggers love comments like everyone else so its a tough graft

@someone living - why thank you and welcome to my effort. Appreciate the response. Just spread the word and if I can be of any help, please just ask :)

@shanachie - what a great name. Hello there and thanks for dropping by :) Not sure how to do stickies on blogs but will have a look see. I'm a big fan of your blog too! *reminds me to share some more link loving!)

@McAWilliams - sir I am honoured by your creative presence. Indeed, it's a tough one to communicate especially in your medium - but maybe it's a case of changing the rules slightly? Introducing a rating into the comments or "tick the box if you think...". I know it works on forums (as someone living pointed out) so why not on blogs too?

Meanwhile I'm the exact opposite to most people at commenting and will comment if I have the tiniest little thing to say, probably cos I started commenting with TwentyMajor's blog that almost instantly goes off topic.

@charmed - hello and welcome to my blog :) It does *seem* easy but there are a lot of variations out there and they can confuse the less savvy. The only way for people to learn is for people to tell and show them I suppose, like we all had to do.

Hey, I followed on from Damien's blog. Congrats on winning post of the month, it's a clear, concise article which you've compiled with lots of thought for people's questions. (If my granny starts commenting mine, I'll know who armed her with the know-how :P )

I'm coming late to the party, Darragh, but I'm a newbie and kinda used to stumbling around and bumping my shins. Thankfully a fluffy directed me here, so maybe I'm learning. Useful post and lacking that essential turn-off of condescension. Thanksttfn

i realize this is an old post, but it was insightful nonetheless. trouble is when i comment on your blog, i always forget to sign into wordpress first, and if i try to choose wordpress as my 'identity' i lose all of it, before a popup comes up to remind me :0 Hence, i'm usually on name/url. (which is fine but doesnt link back to my blog. sniff)

They say that the chances of someone clicking on a button are directly proportional to it's size. So in other words the bigger it is, the more likely someone is to click on it.---------------------JOHN

I'd been trying to figure out all day how to leave comments on blogs,how do I loggin,what's my user name,blah blah blah;and i can't even leave you a comments that your article did not explain things good enough for me to be able to leave you this reply,because...well, i don't know how to leave this comments?????...and I'm obviously writings this for nothing, because nobody can read it, because i can't send this,because...........unless,..did it work?are you reading this???

As someone also just learning about blogging & commenting I can kind of relate to Anonymous' frustration in the January 7 Post a Comment.

On this blog you do have the option to choose 'Anonymous' from the 'Comment as:' drop down which apparently allows the comment to be posted no strings attached. But I have looked at a number of various internet blogs that you can't comment unless you have an account with Google, LiveJournal, WordPress, Aim, and so forth. Perhaps it's a bloggers preference in setting uo their blog?

The WordPress.com blogs I looked at require an eMail address abd your name. That makes more sense than requiring an account. If this works by just selecting Anonymous and clicking on Post Comment -- that's great.

Oh wow. Look how long it's been since I responded to this post! Things have changed too since I posted it so I must post an update soon. I'm a brat. Well, I'm a busy brat, but still... Thank you all again for the feedback.

Nay: If your granny does start commenting, I'll bet it wll be just full of compliments for you :)

Conor: Thanks man! Connecting people with bloggers and all that!

Nick: A newbie in July but a seasoned blogger by now - I read your blog regularly and enjoy it. Thanks for the feedback and if there's any other guides you can think of, please do let me know.

Collinsalbert34: You're very welcome. Apologies again for the late reply.

Przepisy: Milo mi! Dziekuje for the comment.

Donna: i realize this is an old post - and that was August! It is a pity that Wordpress doesn't have some sort of integration with blogger (I have the same issue when I go over there) but I believe they're working on making it easier. Since I wrote this post things have changed - I should update it!

Ann: Well, there you go now. Glad I could help!

Smocha: It did indeed show up, thank you. It is a pity that people don't comment more because they don't now how, but I do think that if they want to enough, they'll learn.

Rebel: Hi there - sorry for the delay in responding. Two things re pictures - firstly, the blog must have them turned on (I don't think I do) and secondly you need a gravatar - just go to the gravatar website and it's easy to do from there :)

Blowind: You're most welcome

John: That's true. It reminds me to go back and update some of my comment button posts, thank you.

Anonymous: Well there you are now. You've left the comment and it worked! Except you can't see this because there's no email address... Hmmmm.

Christian: thanks for your query. I don't "exchange links" as such but I will leave the URL in the comment if anyone want to visit. I trust that is okay.

Anonymous(2): Yes it did work... I will go back and check out the set-up of my comments but as far as I know I have the path of least resistance set up! I'd also highly recommend people setting themselves up with an OPEN ID Which will help with all comments on a variety of websites.

Anwar: You're welcome. I appreciate your visit and comment. Good luck with the blog!

Truck campers: Glad you enjoyed! Best of luck with your new blogging - I hope you enjoy it.

Terence: You're welcome. Of course you're also learning a lesson in how not to leave your commenters for months but I'm glad some of the mystery was taken out of it.

WTF I leave the comments on the blogs but i don't see any notifications (moderation,....) they just disappear WHY WHY??? I don't understand I'm doing everything correctly I'm sure.Please explain to me somebody!Sorry for my english I'm very angry

Normally I find blogs through the comments that other bloggers leaves on those blogs and so it adds to it just to show different styles and ideas. I have chosen this particular website because It provides help for people to make them feel confident on the web, to know they are welcome to join the conversation and give their opinions. It's important that they know how the structure of blogs workout.

Thats nice, but I have a big problem on my site. (timtim77.blogspot.com) When I click on the comments button it brings me to the same screen. On that screen I press Post a Comment, but It doesnt work. Can you help me?

hi! i can't post comments on my blog, you can see it on http://audreyjust09.blogspot.com. it's written in indonesian but never mind. would you please tell me why? can you post any comments on my blog? thanks for the help.

This is kind of important

Any of the things I write on this blog are my own opinions and should be treated as such. They are neither a reflection on or the opinion of the companies that I work with. I also do not write posts that have been paid for or requested by employers.